Broken Mirrors
by Unholy Preacher
Summary: Alternate story that revolves around Kazuya, Angel, and Devil
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: All characters used here are the property of namco, except for maybe a few minor supporting characters.  
  
  
  
There was no one else on that end of the playground, save for the young boy who sat quietly on the swing – unmoving. With each hand holding tightly on the thick metal chains on both sides, he stared down blankly on the pavement. He could hear the other kids yelling and playing in the distance. He could even hear some of them laughing and making fun of him. It didn't interest him the slightest bit though; he just wanted to be left alone.  
  
His mind was occupied by thoughts about the recent events in his life. His mother had just passed away, leaving him and his adopted brother with a bitter father. He could still feel the pain in the center of his chest after his father had thrown him off a cliff. It had now been days since the incident, but the scar had still not completely healed.  
  
A strange feeling snapped him out of his thoughts though and drew his eyes to look forward. At first he could not see anything, but then a figure appeared slowly behind one of the trees. A statuesque woman with blonde hair was smiling in front of him. She was clad in white garment, with a crown of leaves on her golden locks that was tied up in a bun. She also had on a tiara that had a strange jewel in the center. What caught his attention though was not even the pair of white feathered wings behind her, but the strange translucence that surrounded her figure. The boy instantly recognized what she was. He had seen pictures of angels on books and this was what she looked like. Turning around, he looked to see if the other children were seeing what he saw, but they did not even seem to notice the woman before him.  
  
Both of them did not speak to each other for the longest time. They just stared at one another, acknowledging the other's presence. Finally the woman made a slight move towards the boy. He, in turn, stood up and unconsciously made a step back.  
  
The angel stopped her movement and smiled again at the boy. "Don't be frightened Kazuya; I'm not here to hurt you."  
  
"…h-how do you know my name?"  
  
Her smile grew even wider. "I know everything there is to know about you."  
  
Kazuya narrowed his eyes. "I've seen you before: at the house, in mother's grave, and now here."  
  
"…As I have seen you, even before those recent moments, Kazuya."  
  
After some thinking from him, a thought entered his mind. "Are you supposed to be my guardian angel?"  
  
She stared silently for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, if you were to call what I did something – that would be it."  
  
"Why are you here?" He asked shyly.  
  
"…To meet you. I'd like us to be good friends."  
  
The boy dropped his gaze to the ground. He was thinking again. "Did my mother send you?"  
  
The angel, too, was caught up in her thoughts, but then she smiled and answered. "Yes, your mother sent me. She wanted me to protect you, and to keep you company when you needed someone."  
  
Another minute of silence passed with Kazuya no longer showing any trace of astonishment.  
  
"May I?" The angel broke the silence quite suddenly. Kazuya, not knowing exactly what she meant, only nodded.  
  
The woman then continued her walk towards him. He no longer made a move to run away; instead, Kazuya just remained still, and watched with a strange curiosity as the angel extended its hand to touch him. With an almost supernatural lightness, she traced the long scar trailing across his chest – through the thin fabric of his school uniform.  
  
He got lost in the unearthly sensation for a moment before she suddenly withdrew her hand. "It's time for you to go back to class now."  
  
"Huh…?"  
  
He turned to the other side of the playground to see the teachers calling for the students. Gazing back right away in front of him, Kazuya became confused when the strange woman was no longer there. He turned around everywhere to look for her, but could see no trace of her. Finally, he gave up his quick search and began to head towards the other children walking inside the school.  
  
"Hey Kazuya, why were you talking to yourself weirdo? Aren't you too old to have little imaginary friends?" he turned and saw a group of kids laughing at him. He glared at them menacingly, and then looked straight at the boy who had made fun of him. Kazuya knew him to be a bully. He had stayed back a couple of grades and was much bigger than Kazuya. The young Mishima did not like being insulted the slightest bit. But what inflamed Kazuya even more was that this was the same bully that had been picking on his younger brother, Lee. Even though they were not what anyone would consider close, he still felt in instinctual need to protect the younger boy.  
  
"Ooh, the Mishima brat thinks he's tough." The bully came up to him with clench first on his sides, the rest of his friends walked from behind him. "You spoiled little rich kids make me sic…"  
  
Before he could finish, Kazuya threw a punch that seemed to come out of nowhere. The boy was knocked to the ground with his broken nose bloodied. The other boys charged up towards him, but Kazuya quickly dispatched of them too. He had hardly fought outside his training sessions, but fighting those kids was a second-instinct to him. He dodged and struck with an almost natural grace.  
  
Finally turning his attention back to their leader, he talked in a low but clear voice that was frighteningly calm. "Get up. Get up so I can beat you some more."  
  
The older boy was struggling to do so, but was barely aware of what was happening. As his head was raised inches from the ground, Kazuya struck with a hard kick that sent a couple of the boy's teeth flying across the air. By now, a spectator of children had completely gathered around them. The teachers went past the throng of kids and rushed to where the bloodied boy was lying. One of them glared angrily at Kazuya and took hold of him in his shoulders. Then without a word, the teacher pushed him quickly inside the school. Kazuya did not resist though, he just let the teacher guide him to where the principal's office was.  
  
For the remainder of the school he was stuck in the office. Throughout the whole scolding and lectures, he didn't say a word. They, of course, took this as a sign of an attitude problem and finally suspended him. Kazuya's nerves froze, not because of the punishment, but because he knew they would tell Heihachi.  
  
After school, he found a limo parked in the front, waiting for him. When he got in, he was greeted by the silver hair of his brother Lee who stared at him wide-eyed. "I heard you got into a fight today."  
  
Kazuya looked away annoyed. "What about it."  
  
"It was with Honda wasn't it?"  
  
"So?"  
  
"Nothing…he's always picking on me, that's all."  
  
He shot a hateful glance towards Lee. "I didn't do it for you."  
  
"Yeah, I know." The silver haired boy lowered his eyes. "You know dad's gonna get angry at you, right?"  
  
Kazuya returned his gaze to the passing scenes outside and said nothing. 


	2. Chapter I

"Guilt…"  
  
"Yes…"  
  
"You're asking me if I feel guilty about what I did?" the Japanese man stared outside at the surrounding buildings as he repeated the question asked him. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, with jet black hair that stood up in the back. On the opposite end of the room sat a woman with strange white feathered wings – a textbook angel.  
  
The angel only studied the man, waiting for his response. After thinking deeply, digging through the memory of that one moment, Kazuya finally turned his direction to the woman behind him. "A little bit." He paused again. "I don't know why. I don't want to. But that feeling is there."  
  
"It's only natural that you feel that way. He was, after all, your father." The angel never moved from her seat.  
  
"Is it?" He raised a clenched fist. "That bastard deserved every bit of pain I inflicted on him that day."  
  
"But you still felt guilty afterwards, so all of that didn't really matter."  
  
Kazuya sneered. "Everything inevitably turns bitter. You only have a few fleeting seconds to savor the sweetness."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"This world dilutes everything – takes a momentary pleasure and turns it to a lifetime of guilt." He lowered his voice a little.  
  
"You need guilt Kazuya; it's what separates us from animals – the ability to feel remorse."  
  
"If you strip away the layers of lies that we've built, aren't we all just animals?" He turned to her and laughed to himself. "But what do I know, I'm talking to you aren't I? So I guess that takes the whole theory of evolution down the drain."  
  
She smiled. "Not as much as you think."  
  
"Or maybe it's the lies that make up the truth." Kazuya said quietly, more to himself than his companion. He wasn't really listening to her anymore. "I need to get some fresh air." He looked up to her but, as always, his angel was already gone within an instant.  
  
  
  
The afternoon sun was still high up. Kazuya started to sweat a bit from the almost unbearable heat beating down. The neighborhood block he stood in was located on top and around a small hill. The roads and passages were somewhat steep. He liked this place though; it gave him a sense of peace. It was probably because the residential buildings that could be viewed across from it were not very big. The almost uniform height of the rooftops served as a long horizon. And nothing could be seen behind them, but the blue skies. Soft little waves of clouds sailed through it slowly.  
  
He looked down at the shadows made by the wires that stringed the electrical posts across the city. The shadows being cast were almost directly below them. As the time passed as he was staring, the shadows began to grow longer opposite the position of the sun.  
  
Kazuya was startled immediately when he heard a sound behind him. It was one of the neighborhood kids riding a bicycle. The boy looked to be about five or six years of age. He stopped what he was doing and turned his attention to Kazuya.  
  
"What are you doing?" The boy asked with genuine curiosity.  
  
"…Just looking at something."  
  
"What?"  
  
"…Shadows."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Kazuya sighed. "To see what the sun is trying to tell me."  
  
The boy's mouth and eyes widened in amazement. "You can talk to the sun?" His expression slowly became skeptical though. "No you can't."  
  
Kazuya smiled at his reaction. "Sometimes…I can hear what it's saying to me."  
  
"What's it saying now?"  
  
Kazuya looked down at the shadows. "…That it's dying."  
  
The boy was silent for a moment. "Yeah right…you can't talk to the sun."  
  
His attention was suddenly diverted somewhere else though when he saw something moving on the small garden beside where Kazuya stood. Kazuya looked down to where the boy's eyes were focused. There was a small rabbit rummaging around.  
  
Before it could begin to escape, Kazuya quickly grabbed it and held it firmly in his arms. He extended his arms and held the animal closer towards the boy, who tentatively began petting it. The boy looked up at him and smiled.  
  
Kazuya then slowly retracted the rabbit closer to him and began petting its head. Then quite suddenly, he snapped it violently to one side. The rabbit hung limply in one hand as he offered it to the boy.  
  
The boy looked up at him, confused and angry. "Why did you do that for!?"  
  
Kazuya just stared back at him and did not say anything.  
  
The boy quickly turned and ran away crying – his bike being pulled along by his side. Kazuya stared at the boy's direction for a bit and then closed his eyes. He was trying to figure out what he was feeling at that instant.  
  
"Do I feel guilty about what I did just now?" He said softly to himself. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes. "Yes, I think so."  
  
Kazuya took one last glance at the horizon and then looked back down at the life-less animal in his hand. He stared at it curiously for a second and then threw it in the ground before also heading out himself.  
  
  
  
"Shadow…" Kazuya shouted out in the night. "Are you there shadow?"  
  
He slowly walked across the dark alley, stumbling as he made his way to a wall. Above, a light bulb over the backdoor of a bar shined upon the near vicinity. Kazuya stared at the wall before him. "There you are shadow."  
  
"Can I ask you something shadow?" He questioned and then nodded himself. "What bothers you the most: shadows that move, or the ones that are still?"  
  
No one answered, of course, just his own voice echoing through the back- alleys. He then lowered his voice into a whisper. "Me…I hate the shadows that hide in the dark."  
  
Then returning it to a normal pitch, he leaned in closer to the wall as his shadow grew to size accordingly. "Tell me shadow, what does your kind do exactly when you're in the darkness and no one can see you?"  
  
Kazuya stepped back until he leaned against the other wall opposite. Slowly sliding down against it, he felt for the bottle that was left on the ground. Then carelessly, he smashed the greenish bottle on the wall, leaving him with something jagged and sharp in his hands. The liquid that was still in it splashed on the wall and in his hand. He quickly shot back up and stood fully now.  
  
Holding the broken liquor bottle like a fencer would hold a sword, he turned his attention back to his shadow. "I'll find out."  
  
Turning to his side, he looked toward the unlighted alleyway ahead of him. He slowly stepped forward; then giving a loud nonsensical shout, he ran up to charge the darkness before him – laughing madly along the way. 


	3. Chapter II

He opened his eyes to a fluorescent halo on the ceiling. Kazuya put a palm up over his eyes to shield from the light. Getting up, he turned his head around to quickly scan his surroundings. The foul stench of urine mixed with the neutralizing scent of chlorine greeted his nose.  
  
Sighting an exposed pipe beneath a cracked marble sink, he used it as leverage to pull his tired body up into a standing position. He grabbed hold on each side of the small sink and used it to steady himself. His own face and disheveled hair greeted him as he looked up at the slightly broken mirror. Water came rushing down with startlingly heavy force after turning the faucet. Kazuya cupped both his hands to catch the flowing water; then bending his head down, he splashed the liquid contents into his face. He repeated the simple task again then slicked his hair back with his soaked hand.  
  
A urinal could be seen at the corner of the mirror. He decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to micturate and void.  
  
After stepping outside of the restroom, Kazuya could see that he had spent the night at a train station. He placed a hand on the back of his neck and snapped back to both sides. He then placed one arm to his lower spine and stretched back. Finally deciding that his body was in well working order again, he adjusted his leather jacket and walked outside: first to the parking lot, then on to the streets.  
  
It was still quite early in the morning, though the sun was already fully up. There were a few people walking about – the early ones preparing to get to work. Seeing a small diner between two taller brick buildings, a slight discomfort suddenly passed through his stomach. He decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to go in and get a bite to eat.  
  
Chimes sounded as he opened the door to get inside. Kazuya scanned its small tight-spaced interior before deciding to settle into one of the empty stools on the table counter. The waitress on the opposite side asked him what he was having for breakfast. He didn't know what kind of food they served so he looked to see what the man beside him was eating. It looked edible enough to him, so he pointed to it and said, "I'll have what he's having." Then after having thought about it, he then added, "…and I'll also have black coffee…strong." The waitress nodded and went back to repeat his order to the cook.  
  
Kazuya looked around while he waited and spotted a newspaper on the empty stool next to him. Assuming that the owner had probably already gone and had just carelessly left it, he reached over to retrieve the paper. He flipped through the pages randomly, looking for articles that seemed interesting. It contained the usual type of stories: the current situation of the national economy, the latest actions of politicians, and of course, the obligatory murder story along with other minor, but equally tragic, incidents that served to reinforce one's belief that the world was indeed growing worse and worse.  
  
After finding nothing of remote interest, he suddenly felt the need of finding and doing the puzzle section of the paper. He found it quickly enough, but was disheartened when he saw that the previous reader had already solved most of the puzzles in it. Feeling a bit frustrated with the lack of anything to focus his attention on, Kazuya discarded the paper to the side. He realized, looking back down, that his breakfast was already in front of him.  
  
Half-way through eating, a strange but familiar feeling suddenly went through him. Without even turning, he swallowed hard the food that was in his mouth and lowered his voice into a whisper. "What are you doing here?"  
  
He finally turned to see his angel with a bright smile on her face. "I like seeing you eat." She giggled, "And besides, since when have I ever needed a reason to talk to you."  
  
Kazuya knew she was only kidding around. When he thought about it, there was always a purpose for her appearances, no matter how small and inconsequential that reason was. But after thinking further about it, he also knew that she rarely appeared at importune moments. "This isn't the time or the place to talk; we're in public." He said, continuing with the lowered voice.  
  
The angel laughed a bit. "Kazuya, I don't know why I'm here now – I just am. Aren't you glad to see me? I'm hurt."  
  
He didn't really listen to her exaggerated falsity at being offended and only interrupted with a small hiss. "Lower your voice."  
  
She laughed a bit more and made her voice even louder. "They can't hear me Kazuya. Don't you remember? You're the only one who can see or hear me."  
  
Kazuya turned around and saw the waitress stare at him, but she turned away when he caught her eyes. The man that was beside him a few seats however just kept looking at him.  
  
Having a very short temper, Kazuya suddenly shouted at him, "What!?"  
  
The man snapped out of his thoughts and looked away after realizing he was staring. But now, however, the rest of the customers and employees turned their attention to him because of the outburst. He felt a bit uncomfortable and struggled to quietly go back to eating. The people slowly got back to minding their own business and Kazuya then decided to leave immediately. After paying for his unfinished breakfast, he left out with the coffee in his hand. He saw the angel waiting for him outside.  
  
"Food there wasn't that great anyway." He said as he walked past her.  
  
By this time, the streets had become more crowded and noisy. A conversation between them could go on relatively unnoticed except for the pedestrians close-by, but people tend to not want to get involved with someone talking to themselves. Also, there were other things that turned the attention away from them, or rather, him.  
  
"So what did you want to talk about?" She questioned him.  
  
Kazuya only looked at her confused. "Nothing, I just wanted to eat."  
  
"Well, there must have been something on your mind."  
  
Just then, Kazuya glimpse a young man looking at him strangely, though he thought nothing of it and continued walking. He reasoned it was probably because he looked like he was talking to himself. It wasn't unusual that he got weird stares from passers-by. He was about to continue his conversation with his companion when she spoke up first. "There are two men following behind you."  
  
He turned and indeed saw two men in formal wear looking straight at him with a purposeful and directness that could only be interpreted as hostile. When he started walking faster, the two men also increased their foot speed.  
  
"Who are they?" He looked to his angel, but once again, she was already gone.  
  
"Great, now that I need you for something, you disappear on me." He sighed under his breath.  
  
Kazuya tried to lose them through the crowds. They were very persistent however and were getting closer. Sighting an empty alley, he decided he would confront them there, where no one seemed to be around. Suddenly, he ran inside the alley and, when he could no longer see them behind him, made a sharp left turn to one of the corners of a wall – hiding and staying in place. He drank his coffee as he waited for them to arrive. Just as expected, the two men ran past him, confused when they lost sight of him.  
  
"Looking for me?" Kazuya called out from behind them and cracked his knuckles – exchanging the paper cup in each hand as he did so. He suddenly rushed towards one of them and delivered a perfectly executed upper-cut. As the man was sent flying towards one of the walls, Kazuya placed a hand over the plastic cover of his cup to keep from spilling the coffee. The other one just stood there for a second, obviously surprised. And before he could say anything, Kazuya jumped up, connecting a spinning kick to the man's face and then swiped his feet as he descended.  
  
Standing back up, Kazuya opened the lid to his cup and took a sip of his coffee. He looked down at both men who were scrambling to get up on their feet. He was about to launch another attack when he heard someone running behind him. Turning around, he saw it was the young man he spotted earlier.  
  
"Sir, what are you doing?" The young man questioned in a confused tone.  
  
"Huh?" Kazuya was equally confused as well but managed to say something back. "Who are you?"  
  
"My name is Saotome, sir. I work for you, and so do they." The young man said, pointing to the two men who were still reeling from the blows.  
  
Kazuya stared blankly at him for a moment and just stood their silently. Finally a question surfaced in his head. "Why were you following me?"  
  
Saotome quickly responded. "Your brother sent us to look for you when he found that you didn't come home last night."  
  
"Chaolan sent you huh?" Kazuya nodded and reasoned how his brother would be worried for him, though he should really learn to mind his business. He then turned to the other two men behind him. "I apologize for the misunderstanding."  
  
"It's alright Mr. Mishima." One of them said, while the other bowed in agreement.  
  
Kazuya then turned back to Saotome and took a sip off his cup. "I guess we better get going now."  
  
  
  
As they got back to the mansion, Kazuya was greeted by the sight of Lee coming towards him through one of the halls. His brother's face had a look of controlled indifference which Kazuya countered with a frown.  
  
"Thank you Saotome." Lee said to the man accompanying Kazuya inside the house.  
  
Saotome responded with a respectful bow of his head. Kazuya rolled his eyes and looked at the young man behind him. He then tossed him the cup he was holding all that time. "Here take this to the trash on your way out."  
  
"Yes, Mr. Mishima." Saotome quietly left – the plastic cup in his hand.  
  
Lee, however, raised an eyebrow to his brother – displaying his disapproval. "He wasn't hired for that."  
  
"Oh that's right; I have you to take you out the garbage for me." Kazuya said coldly. "Who is he anyway?"  
  
"Actually he was hired to clean up after you…" Lee paused to think. "I hired him yesterday. He's one of our new security personnel."  
  
"How come you didn't tell me about this?"  
  
"Look, you just told me to hire some new faces." Lee began. "I didn't tell you about them cause' I didn't see you yesterday." He then paused a bit. "In fact, that's one of the reasons why I hired them so quickly, because you suddenly went missing. I needed them to look for you immediately."  
  
"Whatever…I don't need you to call out the search party for me just because I got wasted for one night."  
  
Lee held back his lip; it was pointless reasoning with Kazuya as he knew his brother would always disapprove of anything he did. He could only change the subject, so he took out a necklace with a strange amulet and threw it to Kazuya. "Here, I just got it this morning."  
  
Kazuya raised an eyebrow as he caught it. "I'm touched Chaolan." He said as he inspected it and threw it back. "Too bad I didn't get you anything."  
  
Lee had a confused look on his face. "I'll hand it over our lab boys."  
  
Kazuya was no longer listening to him, however. "You do that Chaolan." And with that Kazuya left to go to his room. 


	4. Chapter III

It was dark. He could barely see the metal rails beneath his feet. He was too far into the tunnel. An old poster floated past him below. The ground began shaking. Up ahead a light could be seen – at first small, then getting bigger. He just stood still and waited for it. The light came closer and closer, until all he could see what a bright white.  
  
The light came between the spaces through the blinds to the room. Kazuya got up from his bed. He stared curiously as the divided lines of shadow and light grafted themselves into the surface of his body – circling around into waves of spirals and hypnotizing him quite a bit. Snapping out of it, he went closer to the window and parted the blinds. A car had just ridden in. After a few seconds, a figure stepped out of it. Kazuya narrowed his eyes to sharpen his vision. It was Saotome.  
  
  
  
The next morning, Kazuya went down to the dining room after preparing himself to go to work. Lee was already sitting there, eating breakfast. Kazuya abruptly sat down, which startled his brother a bit – looking up from his newspaper.  
  
"Good morning Kazuya."  
  
He was silent for a moment, preoccupied with the front page of the paper his brother was reading. "Can you give me a section?"  
  
"Sure." Lee responded, taking out a section he had already read and handing it to Kazuya.  
  
"That new pet of yours came in late, last night." He said as he reached across to accept it.  
  
Lee looked quizzically. "You mean Saotome?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, he's not some teenager we're looking after Kazuya. He's our head of security. He can come in late if he wants to."  
  
Kazuya frowned at his brother. "He does that almost every night. It's been weeks now. If he is our head of security, he should be more…" He tried to look for the right words, "…stationary…insuring our security."  
  
Lee grinned without looking up from his paper. "Don't worry about it. He's responsible. And besides, it was his time off last night."  
  
"What about all those other times."  
  
Lee sighed "You're being paranoid."  
  
Kazuya was getting tired of this as well and decided to finally turn his attention to his paper. There was a picture of a dead girl on the top of the page. It caught his attention, so he decided to read the article. Suddenly, he heard music coming from upstairs. Someone was playing the piano from one of the rooms upstairs.  
  
He turned to his brother. "Do you hear that?"  
  
Lee stared silently at him and concentrated on trying to find what Kazuya was talking about. After a few seconds of struggling, he finally shook his head. "No, I don't hear anything."  
  
"It sounds like someone's playing the piano from upstairs."  
  
Lee listened for it again. "Sorry, I don't hear it. Do we even have a piano?"  
  
Kazuya thought silently for a second. "Yes, it's in mom's old room. She was the only one who used to play it."  
  
Lee just shrugged at this, not knowing what to say. "You must be just hearing things Kazuya." He smiled. "That or mom's ghost is haunting the place."  
  
Kazuya frowned. "Forget it. It's nothing."  
  
  
  
After he finished his breakfast, Kazuya turned to go upstairs. The servants that took care of the dishes were wary of him, which amused him a bit. He walked the corridors until he arrived at the part of the mansion that he hadn't set been in since he was a child. He explored it for a bit. He had forgotten where everything was.  
  
A few minutes later, he found himself lost. Giving up, he turned to go back when he heard the music playing again. Kazuya followed to where the sound was coming from. It led him to a closed door. It was the same white color as all the rest. He slowly opened it and found himself staring at a big spacious room, with nothing much by way of furniture except for a wooden couch and table which were covered in a white cloth. There was also the piano which he had heard. It was covered in the same white cloth too, but it was partially pulled away. And he could see that the dusts which had accumulated on the surface over the years were only just disturbed. Whoever was there minutes ago was obviously not playing anymore.  
  
Looking around, the room was unfamiliar to him at first. The bits of memories started flooding back to him. He remembered it was more ornate before, but the floor and walls were the same. It was his mother's own private room, he was sure of it now.  
  
A noise from the near corner of the room interrupted his thoughts. He turned around, not at all surprised by the face that greeted him. 


End file.
